After you Wan Azizah

It is clear that Dr Mahathir Mohamad is playing political games over the exact moment when Anwar Ibrahim is to take over as prime minister. He now says there is no vacancy in the Cabinet for a reshuffle to accommodate the hapless Anwar who has been waiting more than twenty years to take over.

Since Mahathir has now said that it is a question of lack of vacancy in the Cabinet, surely Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail should decide whether she wants to be the deputy prime minister (DPM) for the long haul. If she intends to continue being the DPM then I have nothing more to say since I was one of the few who said that she should have accepted the prime minister’s post after GE14 and not let a former dictator take over the reins of power yet again at the age of 93.

After all, Mahathir’s race-based PPBM had only won 12 seats in GE14.

But since Wan Azizah has already said she would step down as DPM if her husband becomes PM because she does not condone nepotism in her party, she should make the strategic chess move by resigning as the DPM as soon as possible.

One would expect that the person who is supposed to take over as prime minister in less than a year’s time should be given the opportunity to prepare for the job of DPM quite a few months before that actually happens. Then we will see what other excuse Mahathir has for not making Anwar the DPM.

The country is watching a Mahathir-led “new” government with the same old racial economic, social and education policies that mirror those of his first term as PM and although he and Anwar had apparently agreed to a succession plan, we witness a guessing game that keeps Anwar and the nation in suspense. Apart from the uncertainty facing the country during this time of economic turmoil, it must be sickening for Anwar’s family to watch the Machiavellian moves.

Wan Azizah should bear in mind that even her daughter, Nurul Izzah, who is of PM material has made the first move by resigning the posts she was assigned after GE14 as a protest against the shenanigans of the Machiavellian-in-chief. The time is therefore opportune for Wan Azizah to vacate her DPM post for Anwar as a precursor to his taking over the PM post from Mahathir in the months to come. After all, Anwar needs a little bit of time to get back into the role of DPM after his two decades in Mahathir’s prison.

And if the PM still refuses to appoint Anwar as the DPM even when Wan Azizah steps aside, then PKR might as well face the reality that mischief is afoot or has been many feet advanced for some time now. They will be forced to face the hard reality that Anwar is never ever going to be PM while his nemesis is in charge and force a realignment of forces in Pakatan Harapan.

Let me leave Wan Azizah and Malaysians with something very familiar that Machiavelli said:

“The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present”.

Kua Kia Soong is the adviser to Suaram. - FMT